February 27, 2008

My early life as a political scientist

When I applied to Harvard College as a high school senior from Turkey, I wrote on my application form that I wanted to major in electrical engineering. Huh? Wake up Dani, there is no electrical engineering major at Harvard College! Nonetheless, I was admitted, through some quirk of the Harvard admission process which I learned about years later.

It turns out that every member of the admissions committee has the right to admit one person, even if the rest of the committee votes negatively. In my case, one member somehow saw a flicker of hope in my file, and used his prerogative to admit me, over the strenuous objections of others on the committee. (I know the story because I was told about it--not by my benefactor--when I returned to Harvard as an assistant professor. The benefactor has remained silent to this day.)

So within two months of arriving at Harvard, I set my sights on political science, which seemed like a lot more fun. The test was going to be survival in Harvey Mansfield's political philosophy course--required of all concentrators.

At the time, Harvey Mansfield and Michael Walzer alternated as the instructors of this course. Aside from obvious differences in political orientation, these two also differed greatly in their grading policy. One of the first things that Mansfield did on the first day of class was to write down on the board the grade averages in the course over the last few years. The see-saw pattern was obvious: you didn't need to run a regression to know that the Mansfield dummy was negative and statistically significant. Mansfield looked at the class and smiled. We nervously smiled back.

In fact, Mansfield was soon to become (or perhaps was already, I do not remember) the Chair of the department. So he extended his Quixotic fight against grade inflation throughout the Gov department. When graduating students complained that their low grade average--relative to concentrators in other departments--was hurting their graduate school placement, the result was that we all got a letter from Mansfield inserted in our file explaining that the Gov department was different, and that grades really meant something here.

But I persevered as a Gov concentrator. I did take a minor in economics thanks to my father's prodding. (My father still had hopes that I would go to business school and do something useful in life.) I stayed with Gov because the rest of the program was so fantastic and stimulating. The courses I took with Stanley Hoffman, Joel Migdal, Joe Nye, James Q. Wilson, Sidney Verba were mind expanding. I am, I think, a far better economist for having studied political science early on.

Comments

Some of my favorite professors (like Eric Denardo at Yale) had been electrical engineering students. I think it was, and probably remains, a great foundation for learning math and problem-solving, transdisciplinary skills. But, I realise, too 'practical' for the Crimson.

Harvard does have a concentration in Engineering Sciences (with an track in EE) and a graduate program in Engineering Sciences (with a track in EE) --- and has had such a program since it began offering engineering courses in the 1850s.

It was an accident that I first came to know about your publications and blog. However, you've become my number one mentor since then, although I haven't met you and I'm thousand miles away(S. Korea) from you. So, thank you and keep on doing good work.

It was an accident that I first came to know about your publications and blog. However, you've become my number one mentor since then, although I haven't met you and I'm thousand miles away(S. Korea) from you. So, thank you and keep on doing good work.

It was an accident that I first came to know about your publications and blog. However, you've become my number one mentor since then, although I haven't met you and I'm thousand miles away(S. Korea) from you. So, thank you and keep on doing good work.

Hi, Dani. I have a similar story. I went to Ohio-State where the Dept. was top-notch.

I do think that the number one problem facing a majority of developing countries is one of political organization. For instance, in most developing countries, institutions -- esp. democratic ones -- are weak and thus there is no clear mechanism for a peaceful transition between governments. Constitutions are not even worth the paper they are scribed on (unlike consolidated democracies where the Constiution is more of a NE).

I think development experts who understand this are better placed as far as assisting with development-related policies is concerned. Such development experts thus know what policy options are part of the strategy set (within the realm of possibility) and which ones lie off the equilibrium path.

An understanding of politics, in general, does open one's mind to a plethora of ideas. If I were the Minister of Education in this country, I would have all students pass a mandatory certification in civics or political science.

It was an accident that I first came to know about your publications and blog. However, you've become my number one mentor since then, although I haven't met you and I'm thousand miles away(S. Korea) from you. So, thank you and keep on doing good work.

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